How Egyptian Influencer Renad Fathi Built a Fashion Empire in Dubai

Some people plan their careers down to the most insignificant Google calendar invite. Others just…pack up their lives into boxes, move countries or even continents, and figure it out along the way. Renad Fathi, a Dubai-based Egyptian influencer and founder of creative fashion agency Renato & Co., falls firmly into the second—and frankly more daunting—category. Long before she became a regular at fashion shows and a hilarious voice for the region’s sartorial scene, Renad was simply documenting her adventures in Oman. With a tone that felt less like the über-polished travel influencers of today and more like that friend with all the good jokes, she built a following of people who care as much about puns as they do planes. Unfiltered captions. Chaotic travel tips. Random anecdotes laced with a certain “Egyptian-ness” that pulled followers in by the thousands.  Then came the fated pivot into fashion. Just like all her social media side quests, it wasn’t strategic, but entirely circumstantial. When her husband relocated to Dubai for work, Renad followed, and everything shifted. In the UAE, the algorithm—and the audience—changed. Travel content slowly gave way to fashion. Invitations to red carpets started flowing into her inbox. Collaborators began knocking on her dressing room door. Then came the moment every It Girl fantasises about: Fashion Week.  One invite turned into a whole avalanche. And somewhere between fit checks and front-row appearances, Renad clocked something most people miss: regional brands weren’t just looking to be seen, they were looking to be understood. To have their stories told their way, without ever being asked to change their DNA or, even worse, their designs. So Renad did what all accidental entrepreneurs do best: she built something because people kept asking for it. That’s how Renato & Co. was born. It wasn’t a dramatic severance of ties with her influencing roots; but rather an expansion of them. She levelled up content creation into brand strategy, creative campaigns, and digital storytelling that’s just as honest as it is engaging, building a catwalk that stretches all the way from Dubai to Cairo.  But once her marketing empire had finally begun to settle, a nagging and more practical question seemed to sprout from her success: “Where can we show our work?” Designers she teamed up with weren’t just looking for advertising; they wanted space. Physical, tangible, theirs. So, just like that, Renad created Dar Renato: a recurring fashion pop-up where regional designers can be seen, touched, and discovered outside the (doom)scroll. And, of course, it’s entirely powered and promoted by Renato & Co., as well as Renad herself. Nowadays, with all the major brand campaigns, celeb-filled fashion events, and seemingly always crowded pop-ups, Renad may not be a travel influencer in the traditional sense anymore. But the essence of that very first version of her, the one finding her footing (both physically and virtually) on a hill in Oman, never really disappeared. She’s still moving. Still navigating. Still building something, then something even bigger, as she goes. Only now, instead of documenting destinations where she is only a guest, she’s creating ones that are entirely her own. And she’s more than happy to share them.